Local dog team to attempt televised world record

DockDog team tries for Guinness mark Thursday

August 28, 2013

Bo, a 3-year-old Walker Coon Hound/Doberman mix, and his DockDog team, will be among six dogs to attempt to make the Guinness Book of World Records in extreme vertical and big air to try.

The event will take place Thursday at the Shell Factory's Aqua Dog Sports Park, a sanctioned facility, and will be taped for a new TV show, "Officially Amazing" on CBBC, an affiliate of the BBC network in England.

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World record holder Bo flies high during a previous competition.

Vicki Tighe, owner of AquaDogs Sports Park and director of affiliates for DockDogs, said having such a big event is big for the sport and the area.

"It's a huge deal for us. They're sending a production team in from London and it will air in London first before coming here," Tighe said. "Dogs will be coming from all over the country."

The local team is made up of Crystal McClaran from Cape Coral and her dog Bo who hold the DockDogs world record for extreme vertical with a jump of eight feet, five inches.

McClaran got involved last year with one of her Labs, who seemed to only like splashing around in the water, until one day she brought Bo.

"He was a natural and a freak of nature. From the beginning he was naturally talented," McClaran said. "We practice and travel all over the world, we're really dedicated to it."

Filming is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and continue all day. Along with the dogs trying to make history, the local Sun Coast DockDogs club will be there showing that "Your Dog Can Do This" by jumping dogs of different breeds and sizes. The Shell Factory and Nature Park will have "Officially Amazing" specials all day. The event is open to spectators.

McClaran said Bo, who is the No. 1 vertical jump and Iron Dog in the world, has never performed on camera, though he has at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.

DockDogs is a canine aquatic sport for dogs of all sizes and breeds. There are three disciplines in which the dogs compete: Big Air, where a dog runs down a 40-foot dock and jumps into a 40-foot pool for distance; Extreme Vertical, in which the dog jumps for height to grab a bumper suspended eight feet out from the dock; and Speed Retrieve, in which the dog swims the distance of the pool to retrieve a bumper.

"It is great that both Guinness World Records and the BBC are able to recognize the true athleticism of these two DockDogs disciplines," said Grant Reeves, CEO of DockDogs Worldwide in a statement. "The inclusion and the exposure that this may bring will increase the awareness of just how much fun anyone can have with their dog."

DockDogs is the governing and sanctioning body for regional, national and international dock jumping performance sports.